I've often felt iffy about Benefit's products. There are a couple I've used regularly over the years, but I tend to write them off as being great for packaging but less great when it comes to product. Well, I'm happy to report their new Smokin' Eyes palette is really good!

The little palette contains nearly everything you need to create the perfect smokey eyes.  Three eyeshadows—a shimmery pewter, a shimmery light pink, and a velvety charcoal grey—black eyeliner, brow wax, eye brightener, and a two-sided brush and tweezers.  The palette comes with straightforward instructions (pewter on lid, liner and charcoal on lashline, pink shadow on the browbone, and eye brightener for the corners of eyes.

The pewter shadow is really pretty, even on its own, and the pink does a great job as a highlighter shadow.  The charcoal shadow isn't too dark (don't want to end up like Pamela Anderson) and the liner stays in place (better than other far pricier liners I've used before).  The brow wax is one of the Benefit products I've been a fan of for a while, and it does a good job of defining eyebrows.  The eye bright isn't super-noticeable, but it can't hurt, right?!  The little brush included in the palette (I made sure to use everything in the kit to apply, even though I used to do makeup for a living and have a huge stash of, obviously, better brushes) works just fine, though you'll probably want to use something else for your shadow anyway if you can.  The angled side works really well for applying the brow wax, though.

So, yeah, for $36 it's a pretty good deal.  While you get smaller portions of each product than you would if you bought them all individually, smokey eyes aren't usually an everyday look so it's a good way to get everything you need without spending a ton of cash.